Best Diet

So we just brought a 4 month old conure home. I did buy some of the food that he/she was being fed, but it's garbage. I want the transition to a new place to be smooth.

I know with my parrotlet we are trying to switch to a pellet diet along with his fresh food. I know most birds love some seed, so how much is appropriate for Dali our conure?

I know the list of forbidden foods, but does anyone have any suggestions or care to share their conures favorites?

I think it depends on the bird, but conures aren't usually prone to being overweight so I don't measure out food or anything.

I free feed a mix of parrot seed and zupreem pellets (probably about 50/50) and twice a day she gets fruits/veggies/grain/whatever we're having. Last night she had green beans, blueberries and a couple dried mealworms (which are her new favorite thing as gross as it sounds.)

I don't think seeds are bad if your bird is flying around and incredibly active. However, I personally would not recommend feeding your conure seed on a daily basis, especially if the seed mix contains sunflower seeds. Seeds are consumed in the wild, but they are not a staple diet in anyway. They're high in fat and generally consumed when birds need the energy - that's why you find that high energy birds (such as budgies) can get away with seed in their daily diet.

Avery eats three different kinds of pellets, as I just recently introduced her to TOPs. She gets 1 tsp Roudybush, 1/2 tsp Harrison's, and 1/2 tsp of TOPs. This is because she LOVES Roudy and will snack on the others when she feels hungry enough.

Aside from pellets, she gets a chop that I've made that contains over 15 ingredients that I thaw out, then remove excess water from, and add GSE for anti-bacterial purposes. This is mixed with fresh fruits or veggies that I've prepared or with sprouts. I have two sprout mixes - one that sprouts over night and one that soaks over two nights. I alternate what she gets. She also gets bites out of my toast in the morning on occasion.

I don't ever give her seeds that aren't sprouted as I use them for training. Sunflower seeds are we absolute favorite, and almonds are her training treat. She also gets 1 naturally dehydrated banana chip (NO sulphites) a day as an extra treat.

While my feeding regime may seem extreme, I strongly believe in providing her foods that promote longevity. I want her to live as long as possible, hopefully for 25-30 years opposed to 12-15. All my foods that I buy for her chops are left soaking in water with apple cider vinegar and GSE for 20 minutes for cleaning as well, as a side note. All fresh produce (yes, even organic) have pesticides of some sort that need to be removed from the surface as much as possible.

The best diet really depends on who you ask. There are so many opinions out there haha! Some say pellets, some fruits and veggies, others seeds and nuts. For me, the best diet is a wide variety of fresh fruits and veggies, some pellets, some seeds and nuts. I free feed fruits, veggies and pellets (my sun conure is not big on pellets). I put a limited amount of seeds, nuts, nutriberries and various treats in foraging stations scattered about his cage so he can work for them. I always have a variety of mineral blocks, cuddle bones and dried chili peppers hanging in his cage. Once in a while, I would give him animal protein in the form of chicken, salmon or milk fish.

Then there are once-in-a-while supplements that I rotate in moderation like multivitamin drops, probiotic powder, bee pollen, red palm oil, and others I forget right now.

Yep, we're like BoomBoom over here. The conures have free access to Harrison's Lifetime Fine pellets and they get fresh fruits, veggies and a cooked 10-bean mix every day. Favourites include okra, snap peas, finely shredded carrots, broccoli stems, fresh dill, cherries, watermelon, pomegranates. They get a ton more than that (pretty much whatever I pick up for a good price at the market), but those are their particular favourites so I try to keep those on hand when I can.

Then at night, they get a small helping of seeds before I put them to bed.

Dali looked at me like I was crazy this morning when I put in the dish of fresh foods. Kinda like "what is that?"

So far he (not sure of sex yet, so it is he until further notice) seems to be settling ok with us. Eating, drinking and playing with toys. My husband is setting up the larger cage this evening. I am not sure I like the cage, but it will due for now 36x24x59 (I think I have those dimensions right). Likely I will upgrade the cage once Dali has settled in.

Thank you for the input everyone. We shall see how the change over to a better diet works out over time.

You can mix some of his normal food in with the fresh food -- will help him realize that the fresh food is actually food. And hopefully he'll accidentally eat some while he picks out his regular food and realize it is good.

I'm so worried that I'm not feeding my conure correctly. When I picked him up from the breeder i just kept him on the sched and recom that she had him on. 1 Tbl of seeds (sunflower free) 1 Tbl of Cook n Soak been mix, both of those in the morning and then around 3ish I dump out the morning feed and give him 1 tsp of seeds, he also gets some fruit and whatever vegi we are having for dinner. He always has Roudybush in a bowl too. I'm working on getting him forage toys. I'm thinking he's active enough and hopefully wont put on to much weight. We'll be doing a vet check again in September. I think the reason the breeder feeds like she does is because she works and goes to school, but she always has time to handle all the birds.

Selestine said:

You can mix some of his normal food in with the fresh food -- will help him realize that the fresh food is actually food. And hopefully he'll accidentally eat some while he picks out his regular food and realize it is good.

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I will try that with Dalis late lunch. My parrotlet loves fruit and some of the mashes I have made, so once Dali comes out of QT maybe seeing another bird eating the stuff will help LOL

Parrotlets should be fed more fresh than pellets and need a higher quantity of seed than most other birds.

They have a more active metabolism so they are not as likely to have issues with fatty liver disease, but I wouldn't offer pellets as a staple of the diet; especially if your little guy is a color mutation.

Just my two cents from what a breeder told me her vet said.
Its a highly controversal topic, but is said to cause liver disease in small parrot mutations.

jugoya said:

Parrotlets should be fed more fresh than pellets and need a higher quantity of seed than most other birds.

They have a more active metabolism so they are not as likely to have issues with fatty liver disease, but I wouldn't offer pellets as a staple of the diet; especially if your little guy is a color mutation.

Just my two cents from what a breeder told me her vet said.
Its a highly controversal topic, but is said to cause liver disease in small parrot mutations.

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Tater will hardly touch a pellet(only by accident because he was messing with a nutriberry), is a seed addict and prefers blackberries to most other fruits. No color mutation, he is the typical green little fellow. The breeder did not give pellets at all. He is offered a multitude of both fresh and cooked foods.

I assumed that his diet as opposed to Dalis would have some differences. Its a lot of information and getting as many thoughts and suggestions is very much appreciated